there are minds which cannot be urged beyond mere matter of fact. With them words are limited not so much to one meaning, as to one application, yet they are not deficient in curiosity, and probably delight in inquiry, but the fact once acquired lies sterile; it produces no results further than that it is so ; the modifications of circumstances are neither foreseen nor understood. These two distinct manifestations are often greatly misinterpreted; the one is considered a fool, the other very clever-neither opinion being correct.

In order to analyze the nature of youthful intellect, the child must be observed during its sports, and when uninfluenced by restraint. The preceptor must condescend to become its playfellow it by no means follows that, in so doing, he loses his influence, for companions generally have greater power than instructors; hence the importance of discretion in the choice of companions; and the conclusion is obvious that children should remain in that sacred asylum' home,' until they can distinguish between good and evil, and have moral and intellectual strength to cling to the one and resist the other. The vulgar, ignorant, obstinate, passionate, or vicious playfellow of an hour will implant more evil than days, nay years of care can root out. But when a child has learned that such things are wrong, he will fear and dislike the evil-doer, and avoid him as he would fly from any vicious animal.

The child having learned to distinguish between good and evil, and acquired habits of obedience, self-control, a love of truth, an affectionate confidence in its preceptor, with some idea of the utility of knowledge, and of its power to confer amusement, (and in childhood amusement is happiness,) the imaginary difficulty of learning to read will be half overcome, before the task appears to have commenced. And let it be observed that, as learning ought to be made pleasurable, so let it never be held forth as the awful affair it has been so long considered. It is only the ignorance or pedantry of the teacher which invests it with an austerity, both false and hateful.

From the above remarks the following conclusions may be fairly drawn.

First; that the formation of good habits is practicable at a very early age.

Second; that a system of regular control may be established and acted upon, before the reasoning faculties and powers of speech are much developed.

Third; that with the developement of reason and language, increased means are afforded.

Fourth; that success in life and character depend more upon the parent than upon the child.

Fifth; that the tools (so to speak) which must be employed, are firmness, gentleness, consistency, patience, and maternal tenderness.

Sixth; that the materials to be acted upon are health, temperament, affection, and reason.

From these deductions, it is clear that the mother is to a great extent responsible for the moral well being of her child; that she has a duty to fulfil, demanding the practice of all the virtues which she wishes to inculcate, and requiring an informed and unprejudiced mind, with a clear and unwarped judgment. The personal attention required of her will not, if her time be well regulated, interfere with other duties.

We have advanced nothing that is not practical, nothing that is not in the power of every mother. We cannot even allow that there is much difficulty in what we propose; the greatest lies in the self-knowledge and self-command required of the parent. We have heard many mothers assert that they send their young children to a preparatory school because they have not time to attend to them at home. Have they found time to inquire into the system of that school, and the character of the companions whom their children will meet there? Do they find time to examine either the moral or intellectual attainments of their children? to ascertain whether they have acquired virtuous habits? or are they merely satisfied with knowing that Miss or Master is learning spelling, reading, geography, grammar, writing, and arithmetic. If mothers cannot find time personally to superintend the elementary education of their children, neither will they find time to ascertain how that education proceeds.

But they may eventually find time to lament over the influence of bad example, the ignorance of virtue, and the acquaintance with evil in which their children have grown up; they will have to mourn the loss of affection, confidence, friendship, and parental influence; and in addition to this they may some time discover that their children have grown up entirely deficient in all useful or solid acquirements.

MEDICAL EDUCATION IN DUBLIN.

IT is a remarkable fact in the history of medicine in the British islands, that regular schools of medicine, with complete systems of medical education, were very late in being established. Till a very recent period any provision for medical education, which may be said to have existed, was to be found almost exclusively at the universities; and as the Colleges of Physicians, which were the only societies of medical men as yet

incorporated, were all in close connexion with the universities, they evinced no solicitude for, nor did they appear to see the necessity of, making a provision by which they might ensure to the public a succession of well-informed practitioners. Hence no attempt was made to form a complete system of medical education in any of the three countries, till the other grades of the medical profession began to form themselves into independent corporations and frame laws for the separate control and government of all who practised in their respective departments of medicine.

In Dublin there existed from an early period, in connexion with the university, professorships of physic, of anatomy, of chemistry, and of botany, and to the occupants of these chairs was entrusted the superintendence of all matters connected with the medical faculty, and in particular the education and examination of candidates for the degrees in medicine. The professorship of physic owes its title to the statute appointing one of the fellows to be devoted to the study of medicine; but although there is reason to apprehend that the medical as well as the law fellows (Medicus et Jurista) should be regarded as the university professors in their faculties, still it appears that, since the restoration, the professorship and fellowship have been considered as distinct, and, with two exceptions, were never held by the same person *. The first professor of physic was appointed in the year 1662, but until 1710 we find no mention of other professors in the faculty of medicine: in that year, ground was laid out for a laboratory and anatomical theatre, and lectures in anatomy, botany, and chemistry were commenced +.

The College of Physicians in Ireland was formed in the year 1660, but was not chartered till 1679. It was found that by this its first charter, the college had not sufficient power to punish and reform such abuses and grievances as frequently existed, which was the more palpable inasmuch as that power did not extend beyond seven miles from Dublin ; a new charter was therefore obtained in the fourth year of the reign of William and Mary, whence the college received its present designation-The King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland. In consequence of a munificent bequest of Sir Patrick Dun, the first president of the college under its new charter, a professorship of physic was established in connexion with that body in 1715. Some years afterwards, the college, finding that a considerable increase would take place in the value of the endowment left by their late president, determined to enlarge the plan proposed * Dublin University Calendar for 1834, p. 40. + Ibid. p. 52.

by him, and to establish professorships supplementary to the medical courses then taught in the university; and in 1743 a private act of parliament was obtained vacating the office of professor of physic, and directing the annual income to be divided equally among three professors, to be styled the King's Professors of Physic, of Surgery and Midwifery, and of Pharmacy and Materia Medica*. In 1783, the estates of Sir Patrick Dun being found to be still more productive, the college conceived that additional professorships should be established, and that provision should be made for clinical instruction. Accordingly an act of parliament, styled An Act for establishing a complete School of Physic in Ireland, was obtained two years afterwards, by which the three university lecturers received the denomination of professors, and the following professorships were established in connexion with the College of Physicians; viz. institutes of medicine, practice of medicine, and materia medica and pharmacy. By a subsequent act, a proportion of the funds arising from the estates of Sir Patrick was devoted to the support of an hospital for clinical instruction, which is now designated Sir Patrick Dun's hospital. Such was the origin of the School of Physic in Ireland.

Up to the commencement of the last quarter of the eighteenth century the surgical profession was, in Ireland, as in Great Britain, in a very degraded state; in union with the barbers, the surgeons constituted the corporation denominated barber-surgeons. A few of the more educated among the surgeons, seeing the disadvantages resulting from this union, resolved to exert themselves to effect its dissolution, and accordingly formed themselves into a distinct society with that object. Their first exertions were not, however, successful; they petitioned the Irish Parliament to dissolve the corporate union subsisting between surgeons and barbers, which they justly represented as highly disgraceful to the former, and injurious to the best interests of science. The influence of a city corporation, and the reluctance on the part of the legislature to interfere with the chartered rites of ancient establishments were the means of affording a triumph to the barbers, who in consequence of the rejection of the surgeons' petition still retained their connexion with them. A second effort on the part of the surgeons was however completely crowned with success; the petitioners, in their appeal to the government on this occasion, took no notice of their old colleagues, but merely prayed to be incorporated into a Royal College of Surgeons. This requisition was too reasonable and just to be rejected; the opposition which it met with arose * Annals of Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital by Dr, Osborne.-Dublin, 1831.

evidently from interested and sordid motives. The wishes and the views of the society of surgeons were speedily complied with and adopted; and thus, in the year 1784, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland was incorporated by Royal Charter.

The first acts of the newly-chartered College of Surgeons were directed to the establishment of such a system of education as would ensure a competent body of practitioners for the public good. The system then adopted was maintained till a recent period, and, although on the whole, it was by no means free from objections, still it was found to work well, until the connexions and power of the college had increased; and indeed it was framed partly with a view to increase the stability and influence of the infant institution. It was a fundamental part of this system that the student should serve an apprenticeship of five years to a regularly educated surgeon, which phrase, in due time, was found to be applicable only to a member or licentiate of the Irish College; and hence originated a monopoly which held out a strong inducement to surgeons practising in Dublin to enrol themselves on the lists of the new College. Under the guidance, and with the instruction of his master, the pupil was to be prepared to undergo an examination for the college diploma at the expiration of his apprenticeship. At this early period the college had not prescribed a plan of study to be followed by candidates for their diploma; however, it seems to have been a primary object. with them to provide the means of instruction for surgical students of Dublin. With the aid of pecuniary grants from government, they built a theatre and other accommodations for instruction in anatomy, surgery, midwifery, surgical pharmacy, and botany, and thus formed the commencement of the School of Surgery in Ireland.

Very soon after their establishment, the college began to adopt a very strict system in the examination of candidates for their diploma,―strict, especially when compared with the examinations of contemporary institutions. The examination was held, as at present, before the members and licentiates of the college, and occupied at the least an hour for two several days. The effect of this strictness might doubtless have been injurious to the new establishment in deterring persons from presenting themselves for the diploma, when they might obtain one with much greater facility elsewhere, were it not that, by an act of the Irish parliament, the surgeoncies to the Irish county infirmaries were reserved exclusively for persons holding the diploma of the Irish College*. There can be no doubt that this exclusive privilege, by which so many situations valu*This privilege still exists, although its contiuuance was violently opposed by the London College.